RIYADH, 26 February — Car rental firms reported a brisk business during the Eid holidays with thousands of vehicles engaged by their customers, mostly Saudis.
The city became practically deserted during the holidays. The majority of shops and malls were closed and the ones that were open did not do so at their normal hours. There are not many places in the city people can spend their leisure time during the holidays and most families were left with the only option of visiting friends and relatives.
Many families traveled to Jeddah, the Gulf states, Lebanon and Egypt to spend their holidays, and some even traveled to Europe.
Jeddah is usually the city most Riyadh residents travel to because it is only one-and-a-half hours away by plane and just seven hours drive by road. The city has many amusement parks, restaurants and chalets by the Red Sea. There are activities for children and adults alike.
Visitors from Riyadh seek places on the coastline, near water and greenery contrasting to the dry desert climate they are accustomed to. They return more refreshed and ready for the new school term and work.
Two of the biggest rent-a-car operators, Abu Diyab and Budget Rent-A-Car, said they had rented out more than 3,000 of their vehicles during the vacation period.
Besides cars in the small, medium and large categories, 14- and 25-seater vans were sought after by private-sector companies for transporting employees to the holy sites.
The rates for vehicles range from SR80-100 for a small car to SR110-150 (medium) and SR180-1500 for a large car. The free mileage in all cases is valid for the first 100 km. Subsequently, the charge per km varies from 40 halalas, 55 halalas to SR3 per km for the three categories. Saudis have described the SR1,500 a day rent for the latest models of Mercedes/BMW as exorbitant.
Referring to a new phenomenon in the car rental business, Mohammed Abu Zaid of Abu Diab Rent-A-Car said many young Saudis disappeared with the rented cars forcing the companies to seek police help. “This is in spite of the fact that we have set up a database on blacklisted customers and require all customers to pay up a SR500-SR1,000 deposit.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the manager of a major car rental firm with a fleet of over 5,000 vehicles said one of their customers disappeared with a BMW incurring them a loss of over SR100,000. When they traced the customer to the address of a multinational construction company he had been working for, they were told that the employee had been absconding for quite sometime. The employee allegedly claimed that the BMW was a birthday gift from his mother.
To protect the interests of the customer and the car rental firm, the Ministry of Communications has granted either party — the customer as well as the rental company — complete freedom to negotiate a mutually acceptable insurance coverage.
